Department of Public Safety Communications Receives Two Top Honors

News Highlights

Fairfax County 9-1-1 Center receives inaugural Horizon Award.

Director Steve Souder also recognized as 2009 9-1-1 Public Safety
Communications Center Director of the Year.

At the 2009 Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO)
International 75th Anniversary Conference and Exposition, held Aug.
16-21, in Las Vegas, Nev., the Fairfax County Department of Public
Safety Communications (DPSC) was recognized with two prestigious
awards.

APCO, the largest public safety communications association in the world
with more than 16,000 members, recognized DPSC as the recipient of
the inaugural Horizon Award (Large Center). This award recognizes
overall excellence in operations, practices, programs, technology and
innovations. It acknowledges the efforts of communications centers
that have proactively assessed and met the technological and operational
needs of their center, employees and service population. There are
approximately 6,100 9-1-1 centers in the U.S.

Also at the conference, DPSC Director Steve Souder was recognized as
the 2009 9-1-1 Public Safety Communications Center Director of the
Year. This award recognizes individuals nominated from throughout the
nation for their exceptional performance and contributions to the field
of 9-1-1 public safety communications, including achievements, depth of
knowledge, innovative thinking, involvement and years of service to
public safety, as well as other key criteria. Winners are selected by a
panel of judges from the public safety industry.

DPSC handles more than 1 million calls per year. It is accredited by the
commonwealth of Virginia. DPSC employees are certified as emergency
medical dispatchers who routinely provide lifesaving instructions to
callers for patients needing CPR, who are choking or giving birth, while
other dispatchers simultaneously dispatch units to the scene.